If anyone ever asks you what "Thor: The Dark World" has in common with "Blondie Goes Latin" and "Bomba and the Jungle Girl," here's the answer: It's the eighth movie in its franchise. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, as "Thor's" particular franchise is known, encompasses the new adventures of Iron Man, the Hulk, Captain America and so on, worth billions around the world. (Rumor has it the next all-star "Avengers" movie will be two hours of actors in costume, counting their money.) So how's this "Thor" sequel?

January 16, 2011 | By Susan King and Rene Lynch, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

"The Social Network" has a lot of friends in Hollywood. The drama about the creation of Facebook continued its winning ways Sunday, taking home four trophies at the 68th Golden Globes, including dramatic feature, director for David Fincher, screenplay for Aaron Sorkin and original score for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The drama has been cleaning up this awards season, most recently dominating the Critics Choice Movie Awards on Friday night. Another front-runner, "The Kids Are All Right," about a lesbian couple trying to keep their family together, earned the Golden Globe for musical or comedy feature while one of its stars, Annette Bening, won for lead actress.

"The King's Speech," the breakout movie about a British monarch's triumph over a debilitating stutter, scored a knockout hometown victory Sunday, winning best picture and all three acting categories for which it was nominated at Britain's top film awards. FOR THE RECORD: BAFTA Awards: An article in the Feb. 14 Calendar section about the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards said lead actor winner Colin Firth wore a kilt to the ceremony. Firth discussed wearing a kilt with the media but wore a tuxedo to the event.

February 28, 2011 | By John Horn and Nicole Sperling, Los Angeles Times

The monarch may have stammered terribly, but Oscar voters spoke loudly and clearly Sunday night, handing "The King's Speech" four Academy Awards, including best picture, best director and best original screenplay. OSCARS 2011: Full coverage and photo galleries The come-from-behind "King's Speech" coup concluded a providential journey for the drama about Britain's King George VI (played by Colin Firth, who won the lead actor Oscar) and his unconventional speech therapist, Lionel Logue (played by Geoffrey Rush)

After pirouetting for hours on the set of "Black Swan," Natalie Portman would sometimes remove her pointe shoes, towel the sweat off of her brow and be met by a disapproving critique from director Darren Aronofsky. "He'd say, 'Oh, Mila is doing really well on her stuff. She's so much better than you,'" the 29-year-old actress said, referring to her costar, Mila Kunis. "Darren would tell us things about each other to try to make us jealous. I think he was trying to create a rivalry in real life between us. " That Aronofsky may have tried to stoke competition between his lead actresses is understandable ?

A project with a young star at the peak of media attention, a well-regarded director and source material of class and pedigree are all components of a traditional indie film success story. "The Other Woman," starring Natalie Portman, has been available on video on demand since Jan. 1 and will be released theatrically in Los Angeles on Feb. 4 ? coming to audiences in an untraditional way that is fast becoming more commonplace. In just a few weeks on VOD, the film had a number of viewers that would have made it more than $1 million in theatrical ticket sales.

Few events straddle the glitz and grit of world cinema quite like the Palm Springs International Film Festival . That's thanks to the affair's wildly divergent aims ? to be the U.S.' definitive, highbrow showcase for international movies, and the Coachella Valley's starry, hard-partying answer to the Golden Globes. Both objectives will be served at the 22nd annual festival, which opens Thursday with a screening of "Potiche," a French screwball comedy starring Catherine Deneuve.